cold ( colder comparative) ( coldest superlative) ( colds plural )
1 adj Something that is cold has a very low temperature or a lower temperature than is normal or acceptable., (Antonym: hot, warm)
Rinse the vegetables under cold running water..., He likes his tea neither too hot nor too cold..., Your dinner's getting cold.
coldness n-uncount usu with supp (Antonym: warmth)
She complained about the coldness of his hands.
2 adj If it is cold, or if a place is cold, the temperature of the air is very low.
oft it v-link ADJ (Antonym: hot, warm)
It was bitterly cold..., The house is cold because I can't afford to turn the heat on..., This is the coldest winter I can remember.
coldness n-uncount usu with supp
Within quarter of an hour the coldness of the night had gone.
3 n-uncount Cold weather or low temperatures can be referred to as thecold.
also the N (Antonym: heat)
He must have come inside to get out of the cold..., His feet were blue with cold.
4 adj If you are cold, your body is at an unpleasantly low temperature.
usu v-link ADJ
I was freezing cold..., I'm hungry, I'm cold and I've nowhere to sleep.
5 adj Cold food, such as salad or meat that has been cooked and cooled, is not intended to be eaten hot.
usu ADJ n (Antonym: hot)
A wide variety of hot and cold snacks will be available., ...cold meats.
6 adj Cold colours or cold light give an impression of coldness., (Antonym: warm)
Generally, warm colours advance in painting and cold colours recede., ...the cold blue light from a streetlamp.
7 adj A cold person does not show much emotion, especially affection, and therefore seems unfriendly and unsympathetic. If someone's voice is cold, they speak in an unfriendly unsympathetic way., (disapproval, Antonym: warm)
What a cold, unfeeling woman she was..., `Send her away,' Eve said in a cold, hard voice.
`I'll see you in the morning,' Hugh said coldly.
His coldness angered her.
8 adj A cold trail or scent is one which is old and therefore difficult to follow., (Antonym: fresh)
He could follow a cold trail over hard ground and even over stones.
9 n-count If you have a cold, you have a mild, very common illness which makes you sneeze a lot and gives you a sore throat or a cough.
11 If you catch cold, or catch a cold, you become ill with a cold.
catch cold/catch a cold phrase V inflects
Let's dry our hair so we don't catch cold.
12 If something leaves you cold, it fails to excite or interest you.
leave sb cold phrase V inflects
Lawrence is one of those writers who either excite you enormously or leave you cold.
13 If someone is out cold, they are unconscious or sleeping very heavily.
out cold phrase v-link PHR
She was out cold but still breathing.
in cold blood →
to get cold feet →
to blow hot and cold →
to pour cold water on something →
1 adj Someone who is cold-blooded does not show any pity or emotion., (disapproval)
...a cold-blooded murderer..., This was a brutal and cold-blooded killing.
2 adj Cold-blooded animals have a body temperature that changes according to the surrounding temperature. Reptiles, for example, are cold-blooded., (Antonym: warm-blooded)
cold call ( cold calls plural & 3rd person present) ( cold calling present participle) ( cold called past tense & past participle )
1 n-count If someone makes a cold call, they telephone or visit someone they have never contacted, without making an appointment, in order to try and sell something.
She had worked as a call centre operator making cold calls for time-share holidays.
2 verb To cold call means to make a cold call.
You should refuse to meet anyone who cold calls with an offer of financial advice. V, Also V n
cold calling n-uncount
We will adhere to strict sales ethics, with none of the cold calling that has given the industry such a bad name.
If you say that a slightly encouraging fact or event is cold comfortto someone, you mean that it gives them little or no comfort because their situation is so difficult or unpleasant. n-uncount oft N to/for n
These figures may look good on paper but are cold comfort to the islanders themselves.
Cold cuts are thin slices of cooked meat which are served cold.
If you say that someone is a cold fish, you think that they are unfriendly and unemotional. n-sing
cold frame ( cold frames plural ) A cold frame is a wooden frame with a glass top in which you grow small plants to protect them from cold weather. n-count
A cold-hearted person does not feel any affection or sympathy towards other people. adj usu ADJ n (disapproval, Antonym: warm-hearted)
...a cold-hearted killer.
cold shoulder ( cold-shoulders 3rd person present) ( cold-shouldering present participle) ( cold-shouldered past tense & past participle )
The form cold-shoulder is used for the verb.
1 n-sing If one person gives another thecold shoulder, they behave towards them in an unfriendly way, to show them that they do not care about them or that they want them to go away.
usu the N
But when Gough looked to Haig for support, he was given the cold shoulder.
2 verb If one person cold-shoulders another, they give them the cold-shoulder.
Even her own party considered her shrewish and nagging, and cold-shouldered her in the corridors. V n
cold snap ( cold snaps plural ) A cold snap is a short period of cold and icy weather. n-count usu sing
cold sore ( cold sores plural ) Cold sores are small sore spots that sometimes appear on or near someone's lips and nose when they have a cold.
(mainly BRIT) n-count
in AM, usually use fever blister
If something such as food is put in cold storage, it is kept in an artificially cooled place in order to preserve it. n-uncount
The strawberries are kept in cold storage to prevent them spoiling during transportation.
cold store ( cold stores plural ) A cold store is a building or room which is artificially cooled so that food can be preserved in it.
cold sweat ( cold sweats plural ) If you are in a cold sweat, you are sweating and feel cold, usually because you are very afraid or nervous. n-count usu sing, usu in/into N
He awoke from his sleep in a cold sweat.
Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to.
The quickest way to get her off the drug was to let her go cold turkey.
Cold War , cold war
The Cold War was the period of hostility and tension between the Soviet bloc and the Western powers that followed the Second World War. n-proper the N
...the first major crisis of the post-Cold War era.
common cold ( common colds plural ) Thecommon cold is a mild illness. If you have it, your nose is blocked or runny and you have a sore throat or a cough. n-count usu sing, the N
1 adj If you describe something as ice-cold, you are emphasizing that it is very cold.
...delicious ice-cold beer...
2 adj If you describe someone as ice-cold, you are emphasizing that they do not allow their emotions to affect them or that they lack feeling and friendliness.
...the gunman's ice-cold stare.
1 adj If something that should be warm is stone-cold, it is very cold.
Hillsden took a sip of tea, but it was stone cold.
2 If someone is stone-cold sober, they are not drunk at all.
stone-cold sober phrase v-link PHR